Like Dad, Like Son on race circuit

Callum Newsham with his dad Dave looking forward to the MINI Challenge

CALLUM Newsham is hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps by making a big impact in British motor racing.

The Inverness racer is set to move up a gear in his career when he competes in the MINI Challenge this year.

He wants to emulate his father Dave, who announced his retirement from the British Touring Car Championship last week after competing for seven years.

Callum (18) who has made a major impact on the Scottish Karting scene, will be racing in the JCW category in the MINI Challenge under Newsham Racing, which is being run by his dad.

The teenager said racing in the competition would be the biggest challenge of his career, but one to which he is prepared to give full throttle to achieve success.

“I love going fast, competing against other people and the feeling of wanting to win,” he said.

“I will be competing against 30 other cars on the grid and each of them will have 265 brake horsepower.

“I’ve been chucked into the deep end and it will be my first time driving a proper race car. But I am looking forward to taking part in the competition.”

Dad Dave is a two-time BTCC race winner and finished his final season in the championship with BTC Norlin. But now he is now looking forward to a new chapter of his racing career managing the team from the pitside and give Callum advice on how to achieve success.

“We’re going to set up as our own team and I’ll run the car,” he said. “We’ve bought a JCW and we’ll have three tests where I’ll drive the car to find a base setup. Then Callum will be gaining the vast majority of miles to get ready for the season.

“He’s in at the deep end but I know he’ll swim just fine. There’s no pressure on Callum and I’ve never forced him to follow in my footsteps with racing.

“In recent years he’s become more and more interested and this year he’s champing at the bit to get into cars, so the MINI series is the perfect fit. It’ll be an exciting season with a lot to learn for both of us.”

Despite receiving no pressure from his father, Callum said he couldn’t help but be inspired to get into motor racing because of what Dave had achieved.

Callum started kart racing when he was 15, regularly competing at the Littleferry Racing Circuit at Golspie, where he achieved a lot of success, as well as elsewhere around the country.

He also followed his father throughout the UK and Ireland when he competed behind the wheel.

He hopes that with Dave’s help and advice, he too can also race in the BTCC championship one day.

Callum said: “He will tell me how everything works and do all the mechanics on the car during the season. He’ll have has work cut out but I think it will be a successful year.”

Callum said while he expected it to be a tough debut season, he hopes it will be the springboard to further success.

“I would like to finish at least in the top 10,” he said. “Once I get comfortable behind the wheel I reckon I should be OK.

“There will be a few experienced racers on the grid and it will be good to know how I compare to them.”